San Francisco Beer Week: Tips For Drinking It All In (PHOTOS)

Friday marks the beginning of San Francisco Beer Week--the annual tradition where the city briefly shakes off its wine quaffing image and revels in the craft brewing revolution that's been fermenting in the Bay Area's sudsy underbelly for decades.

Also, it gives thousands of people the opportunity to get real drunk off delicious beers they've never heard of before.

This year's festival, presented by the San Francisco Brewers Guild, features over 400 events all across the Bay Area featuring hundreds of breweries, micro-breweries and nano-breweries.

No matter what your beer drinking itch, there's sure to be something at SF Beer Week guaranteed to scratch it.

Check out some of the Beer Week events we're most looking forward to:

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People always like to mix cheese with wine, which is fine and all, but it misses half the story. For every creamy brie walking hand in hand with a smooth Pinot Noir, there's a smoked cheddar that wants to roundhouse kick that brie in the face, slam down on a grimy bar stool and start pounding beers. For all the beer swilling cheese nibblers out there, the American Grilled Cheese Kitchen is teaming up with Firestone Walker Brewing Company for two consecutive Sundays of gourmet, five-course, cheese-stuffed meals complete with expertly selected beer pairings. -Aaron Sankin

Give a man a brew and he drinks for a night. But teach a man to brew and your Monday night just got a lot more interesting. Celebrate the age-old proverb with Hands On Gourmet at Monday's Beer Making and Hands-On Cooking Class. The chefs at Hands On will be joined by Brooklyn Brew Shop for a brewing/cooking/pairing dinner of barbecued duck and sweet potato pastries, lamb kabobs and risotto and pumpkin ice cream with ginger snap cookies -- all paired with Brooklyn Brew Shop beers. (Best Valentines Day plan ever?) -Robin Wilkey

Local IPA lovers are surely familiar with Russian River Brewery's palette-blasting double IPA, Pliny the Elder. But only the formidable have sampled the brewery's most limited release -- the 10.5 percent slap-in-the-face, Pliny the Younger. Available for only two weeks a year, the triple IPA will be on tap and flowing at Bobby G's Pizzeria's Strong IPA Day next Friday. Last year, the keg is tapped at 5 p.m. and lasted a whopping 57 minutes. -Robin Wilkey

Each day during Beer Week, Haight Street's renowned artisan cocktail bar The Alembic will be featuring a different libation made with -- you guessed it -- carefully-selected local craft brew. Sounds like just the drink to pair with the eatery's world-renowned beef tongue sliders. -Carly Schwartz

One of the coolest Beer Week events isn't even officially part of Beer Week at all. BrewLab SF is a collective of local home-brewers who have a system where they each brew a batch every month and then distribute it out to the rest of the group. BrewLab's "Under The Table" event is an opportunity for the most micro of breweries to put their best stuff on display. It's as grassroots as beer-making gets. Each all-you-can-drink ticket comes with a custom, sandblasted glass. Make sure you RSVP ahead of time because you can't get tickets at the door. -Aaron Sankin

The Lower Haight watering hole Noc Noc is known for booze that won't break the bank, but their Lagunitas flights take it to a whole new level. Enjoy four different elixirs from Northern California's celebrated brewery for just 12 bucks, including limited-time offerings like Brown Shugga and Wilco Tango Foxtrot. -Carly Schwartz